Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Iraqi Politicians Are an Endangered Breed

No wonder the Iraqi government is failing. As fast as citizens step up to the plate, al-Qaida strikes them out -- permanently!

An Iraqi oil minister was kidnapped today by terrorists. (Click here to read the story.) Two more Sunni leaders were killed this week for taking a public stand against al-Qaida. A southern governor and police chief were killed by a roadside bomb. All this in just two days! There are continuing reports of Iraqi political leaders being killed, police recruits mowed down, police barracks bombed, Iraqi soldiers targeted.

Al-Qaida, Shiite and Sunni insurgents and other terrorist groups operating in Iraq have found an effective way to maintain chaos. Every time Iraq begins to grow the head of leadership, they lop it off, leaving the limbs of the beast to flail away ineffectively. Messy but highly effective. No wonder the Iraqi government is in such disarray. Volunteering to serve is tantamount to a death wish.

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Posted by The Watcher at Tuesday, August 14, 2007 | | Comments | links to this post

Saturday, August 04, 2007

Snapshot of an American Muslim

An estimated 2.35 million Muslims call the United States home. While 65% are foreign-born, they are "decidedly American in their outlook," according to the latest report by the Pew Research Center as quoted in the July 30, 2007 issue of Newsweek. Click here to read the entire article.

Here's a snapshot of the average Muslim in America:

54% are male
56% are age 18-39
47% have at least some college education
35% earn less than $30,000
50% are Sunni
56% are moderately committed to their faith

While 63% of Americans do not believe that US Muslims condone violence, 52% think the FBI should be allowed to wiretap mosques. And 52% also felt that Muslims living in foreign countries are more violent than those living in America.

Generally, older Americans were more suspicious of Muslims and younger generations more tolerant. When asked whether they thought the US allows too many immigrants from Muslim countries, those responding "yes" were as follows:

58% age 60+
49% age 40-59
32% age 18-39

Many US Muslims were born here, others immigrated to the US, but all have the same hopes for their children and are pursuing the same dreams as their neighbors. It is the feeling of suspicion they feel as they walk down the street and go about their daily business that separates them from their fellow countrymen.

One American Muslim raising his family in Ohio said he thinks anti-Muslim sentiment is growing worse in the US. "I'm not so much worried about myself," he told Newsweek. "It's the young people I'm concerned with. Those are the people we need to try -- not only as Muslims but as Americans -- to make them feel part of America. If you alienate the Muslim young people from America, that is dangerous."

Alienation is often the first step toward violence, as we have seen at Columbine and Virginia Tech. By alienating Muslim youth in America we push them into the outstretched arms of extremists offering them acceptance while fanning their alienation into hatred.

America has always been a melting pot of cultures, people and ideas. Muslims are one of several newer groups adding to the spice and richness of our society. Throughout our nation's history we have at first feared and then embraced the new and different. Perhaps the best way to distill the threat of radical Islam in America is by embracing and welcoming our Muslim citizens.

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Posted by The Watcher at Saturday, August 04, 2007 | | Comments | links to this post

Thursday, August 02, 2007

Iraq Unraveling from Within

Is US intelligence a joke or are Bush and his cronies really that obtuse? Two headlines caught my eye this week:

Sunnis Quit Cabinet
Gates: U.S. Underestimated Iraqi Political Rift

Only an idiot -- or apparently, the US government -- didn't see this coming! The Sunni-Shiite (and to a lesser degree, Kurd) split has long been at the root of Iraq's inability to form a viable government. Only by viciously suppressing one faction in favor of another has the country ever been able to function as a political unit. Only with Saddam's iron fist pummelling the Shiites and Kurds into submission were the minority Sunnis able to control the country.

In its arrogance and naivete, the Bush gang apparently believed that once Saddam was removed, the Iraqi people would rise up as one, embrace democracy and lead a new wave of western-styled freedom through the Middle East. However, with no single strongman rising from their interminable internal squabbling and no history of cooperative government, the Shiites have been unable to form, much less maintain, even the marginal semblance of a national government.

"In some ways, we probably all underestimated the depth of mistrust and how difficult it would be for these guys to come together on legislation," US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said this week.

What an understatement! Has nobody in the Bush administration ever opened a history book? You don't change centuries of cultural behavior by dangling a foreign carrot in front of a stubborn mule. And American politicians are so culturally obtuse, they never thought to find out if the donkey likes carrots!

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Posted by The Watcher at Thursday, August 02, 2007 | | Comments | links to this post

Thursday, July 12, 2007

In Bizarre Twist Sunni Splinter Group Threatens Iran With War

"The leader of an al-Qaida umbrella group in Iraq threatened to wage war against Iran unless it stops supporting Shiites in Iraq within two months, according to an audiotape released Sunday," the Associated Press reported earlier this week. Click here to read the whole article.

In a bizarre 50-minute audiotape posted on a terrorist website, Abu Omar al-Baghdadi, leader of the Sunni splinter group Islamic State in Iraq, threatened to launch an attack against Shiite-dominated Iran saying, "We are giving the Persians, and especially the rulers of Iran, a two month period to end all kinds of support for the Iraqi Shiite government and to stop direct and indirect intervention ... otherwise a severe war is waiting for you."

Sunnis and Arab countries doing business with Iran were also given a two month warning to cease and desist. "We advise and warn every Sunni businessman inside Iran or in Arab countries especially in the Gulf not to take partnership with any Shiite Iranian businessman -- this is part of the two-month period," al-Baghdadi said. Kurds were also condemned for supporting Iraq's Shiite government.

In my opinion, this ridiculous farce underscores the impossibility of ever finding a common ground in which Iraqis could live in peace. There will never be respect or acceptance between Sunnis, Shiites and Kurds. While, as a Westerner, I fail to comprehend the importance of what seems to me to be minute differences in religious and political philosophy and the fanatical fervor with which centuries old slights dictate current behavior in the Middle East, it is clear to me that no side in this unlikely threesome is willing to compromise.

In all the chaos and highly charged emotion rampant in Iraq, it is only a matter of time before a loose cannon like al-Baghdadi sets off the bomb that breaks the camel's back and ends any semblance of political cooperation in that part of the world. As the rage of Iran or Turkey scream down upon Iraq, devouring its borders, peace may finally come to this divided country. But it will be the iron-fisted "peace" of a new Saddam.

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Posted by The Watcher at Thursday, July 12, 2007 | | Comments | links to this post